The Menendez brothers, who were recently resentenced for the gruesome shotgun murders of their parents in 1989, will face a parole board on Aug. 21 and 22 in the next step of their efforts to leave prison for good.

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of the murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, and sentenced to life in prison. In May, they were both resentenced to 50 years to life, which for the first time opened up the possibility of parole after decades behind bars.

Erik Menendez, now 54, will face the parole board first on Aug. 21 followed by Lyle Menendez, 57, on Aug. 22. The board, comprising two or three hearing officers, is expected to make a decision on whether to recommend parole for each brother at the end of his hearing. They'll join the hearings remotely through videoconference from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where they are incarcerated.

A renewed wave of public interest in the case and calls for the brothers’ freedom helped launch the final push toward their resentencing, despite a legal tug-of-war with opposing district attorneys and several scheduling setbacks.

Here's what to know about the case and parole process:

What will happen in the parole hearings?

The parole board's purpose is to determine whether an inmate "currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to society if released from prison" considering factors such as criminal history, how they behaved while in prison, how they have changed since coming to prison and youth offender factors, among others.

The Board of Parole Hearings is made up of 21 commissioners and deputy commissioners. Two or three of them will comprise the hearing panel that considers the Menendez brothers' parole, the department said.

If the parole board decides to grant parole, its chief counsel will review the decision, which is considered a "proposed decision." That review could take up to 120 days. Then, Gov. Gavin Newsom will get final say. In California, the governor has the right to uphold, reject, modify or refer back to the parole board a decision to recommend parole for anyone convicted of murder.

The decision is expected to be announced at the end of the hearing. On average, parole hearings take about two to three hours to complete, according to the department.

What happened in the Menendez brothers murder case?

Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the slaying of their wealthy parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. The parents were shot to death in their Beverly Hills home the evening of Aug. 29, 1989.

The conviction came during a retrial, after the first murder trial ended with an undecided jury. To secure a conviction the second time, the brothers' attorneys have argued that substantial evidence of alleged abuse the brothers suffered at the hands of their parents was excluded from the retrial.

In the first trial, the Menendez brothers both testified that their father physically and sexually abused them while their mother emotionally battered them. Their defense attorneys argued that the young men – Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the murders – killed their parents in self-defense, believing that their parents were going to kill them to stop them from speaking out about the abuse.

Prosecutors painted the brothers as cold-blooded killers motivated by their parents' vast fortune, and pointed to the spending spree the two went on after the murders while initially denying their involvement and suggesting it could have been a mob hit.

Why are the Menendez brothers eligible for parole?

After decades behind bars, former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón petitioned for their resentencing, citing new evidence on the alleged abuse. Gascón lost his reelection bid to a DA who vehemently opposed it, Nathan Hochman. Hochman argued the brothers hadn't taken responsibility for the murders.

Multiple court delays culminated in a judge issuing them the new sentence of 50 years to life. They had also pursued a clemency application. Their fight for release has long been supported by many family members and drew the attention of celebrities like Kim Kardashian.

Their initial sentence did not include the possibility for parole, but the resentencing made them immediately eligible for parole thanks to youthful offender statutes that passed within the last decade. Under those statutes, offenders who were under 26 at the time of the crime and given indeterminate prison sentences of more than 25 years to life are eligible for a parole hearing in their 25th year of incarceration, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Under those laws and their new sentences, the Menendez brothers would have been eligible for their parole hearings in January 2016, according to the department's records.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will the Menendez brothers be freed from prison? Parole board to weigh in.

Reporting by Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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